david martin on the ceremony that honored eight men who did not survive an attack from the taliban. >> reporter: you have to see combat to realize how indefensible it was from an attack from east taliban fighters. just 52 american soldiers were down there, plus staff sergeant. >> we were taking everything from very precise sniper fire, automatic weapon fire, machine gun positions. we were taking more indirect fire, rpg fire. >> where was it coming from? >> all 360 degrees around us. from every high point. >> were you taking casualties? >> we had taken casualties from the first barrage of fire that came in and continued to take them throughout the remainder of the fire fight. >> a recreation of the battle shows he was everywhere that day. running across open ground to reenforce one weak point after another. >> at one point, i witnessed three enemy fighters walk straight through our front gate like they owned the place and to see that, you know, it's unreal for a second. but you know, that's ours. we're not going to let them do that. >> how close do you think you came to being over run?